Gold Marks Ninth Annual Gain, Metals Rise – 12/31/2009

by Bullion Prices Staff on December 31, 2009

US gold futures rose 0.3% on Thursday, registering a ninth straight yearly gain. The yellow metal finished up 24 percent in 2009. In a striking contrast, gold has more than tripped in this decade. Other metals also advanced on the day, with silver rising 0.3%, and platinum climbing 0.5%. New York precious metal figures follow:

Gold for February delivery advanced $3.70 to $1,096.20 an ounce. It ranged from $1,093.10 to $1,107.60. In 1999, gold settled at $289.60 an ounce.

Silver for March delivery climbed 4.3 cents, or 0.3 percent, to close at $16.845 an ounce. It ranged from $16.780 to $17.105. Silver jumped 49 percent on the year.

January platinum rose $7.70, or 0.5 percent, to end at $1,460.00 an ounce. It ranged from $1,451.60 to $1,466.50.

In PM London bullion, the benchmark AM gold price was fixed to $1,104.00 an ounce, which was an increase of $16.50 from Wednesday. Silver rose 7 cents to $16.990 an ounce. Platinum was settled at $1,466.00 an ounce, gaining $11.00.

Notable bullion quotes follow:

"In a nice bookend to the year, it appears that 2009 will end much the way it started in the financial markets, a dollar story," Brian Kelly, chief executive of Kanundrum Research, a commodities and macroeconomic research firm, said on MarketWatch. "For gold the catalyst in 2010 will be inflationary pressures."

"The purchasing power of all currencies is being eroded," James Turk, the founder of Jersey, Channel Islands-based GoldMoney.com, said on Bloomberg. "I look at the real price of goods and I see hyperinflation for the dollar in the not-too-distant future. That means a declining value of the dollar and higher gold prices."

"Year-end book-squaring continued during the overnight hours, this time in favor of gold, oil, and the euro for a change, as a rather large wave of dollar selling hit the market and brought the US currency to just under 77.50 on the trade-weighted index," wrote Jon Nadler, senior analyst at Kitco Metals, Inc. "Bargain hunting by locals over in India helped support the move to higher ground in gold."

New York crude-oil for February delivery rose 8 cents, or 0.1 percent, to $79.36 a barrel, marking a 78% increase for the year. Gold, considered a hedge during times of high inflation and economic uncertainty, tends to follow oil and move opposite to the U.S. dollar.